Dating Mollusks using AARIn June, 2016, John and I travelled to Ithaca, NY, where we dated shells belonging to the genus Chione using a technique called amino acid racemization (AAR). Calculating dates using AAR allows us to establish a timeline of change within our study localities around St. Croix, USVI. In this case, change could be compositional: how have populations of mollusks varied compositionally through time, physical: to what degree have sediments been mixed through activities like bioturbation or wave-induced mixing, or environmental: how long have seagrass beds remained stable around St. Croix? Understanding the timing of change also allows us to determine whether humans could have been the drivers of such change. If the variation we see the result of protracted change over thousands of years, humans are likely not the underlying cause.
Check out the video to the right to get a glimpse of what we have been working on as part of Cornell College's Summer Research Institute! |
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Amino Acid Racemization LabPaleontological Research Institution
1528 Trumansburg Rd. Ithaca, NY The Paleontological Research Institution, affiliated with Cornell University, houses the Amino Acid Racemization lab (relocated from the University of Delaware and developed and supervised by John Wehmiller). |